Seating apparatus applied, for example, to rear seating of vehicles and having a backrest that can be folded forward to expand a luggage space is widely known. Further, there has been known a technique of allowing the seat cushion (seat) to be flipped up toward the front of the vehicle before the backrest is folded forward, so that the backrest may be folded and stowed in the position where the seat cushion was situated before being flipped up and that the rear surface of the backrest, which serves as a floor surface of the luggage space, may be located as low as possible to expand the capacity of the luggage space.
In some seating apparatus of which the seat cushion can be flipped up, a locking mechanism is provided in order to prevent the seat cushion from flipping up (lifting up) unexpectedly when the vehicle is applied with an impact at the time of collision, for example.
As shown in Patent Document 1 by way of example, the locking mechanism includes a hooked locking member arranged below the seat cushion and urged by a spring or the like so that the locking member can be locked to the vehicle body. The locking mechanism is automatically locked when the seat cushion is brought to a normal seating position. When the seat cushion is to be flipped up, the locking mechanism is unlocked.